Our First Noel
by remuslupin31060
Summary: It's Christmas, and the Doctor wants it to be very special for River. From trees and gifts to stars and holly, this Christmas with the Doctor will definitely be special. My Christmas story, which I've been waiting forever to write. I'll be updating throughout the month, and comments are greatly appreciated! I hope everyone enjoys reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!
1. O Christmas Tree

"River! Come here!" the Doctor yelled into the Tardis, staggering through the door with a giant fir tree.

River walked down the steps and stopped, staring at him for a few moments. He was obviously struggling with the huge tree, and he nearly fell backwards more than once. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to carry tree inside, what does it look like?" He let go f the tree, now half inside, and leaned against the door, breathing rapidly. "Today is Christmas Eve, and I wanted this Christmas to be special. It's a Christmas tree. I'm just having some trouble getting it inside."

"Why didn't you ask for help?" she asked, walking over to help him.

"I'm the Doctor, I don't need help. At least, I didn't until now."

Typical Doctor. She picked up one end o the tree and helped him move it into the Tardis living room. They placed it in a nice corner by the fireplace. It was quite tall, six or six and a half feet, and it was a festive dark green color. He'd done a nice job choosing it.

"You have snow in your hair." The Doctor turned to look at River. A few snowflakes had fallen perfectly from the tree into her hair. When she reached up to brush them away, he caught her hand. "Leave it, it looks nice like that."

She smiled and reached up to brush the snowflakes out of his brown hair. "Should we start putting the ornaments on the tree?"

"Yes! I'll get them, stay right there," he said as he walked out of the room, coming back a moment later dragging a box full of brand new, shiny ornaments behind him. She was standing next to the fireplace. "Did you move?"

"No, sweetie." She had moved, just to see his reaction, and she said her last statement with a hint of amusement.

He paused, remembering. "You did! I said stay right there."

"Well," she said sarcastically, drawing out the word. "I didn't know a difference of two feet would be so bothersome to you."

He grinned and handed her the box, which she put down next to the tree. She then picked up the first ornament, a circular black glass ball with stained glass yellow and white stars, and they both put it on the tree together. They continued like that for a while, each taking turns placing fancy ornaments on the evergreen in the room. When they had finished, the Doctor reached down into the bottom of the box and pulled out a brilliant white star. He took River's hand and reached up with his other to place the glowing star on the top of the tree.

River turned on the little white lights covering it, and they both stepped back to admire their work. It was absolutely beautiful; the Tardis blue and white ornaments, with a few black galaxy balls mixed in, did wonders to the dark green of the pin needles. The star on top pulled it all together, making it perfect.

The Doctor leaned down and kissed his wife's forehead, pulling her closer to him. They turned off the living room lights and sat down in front of the fireplace together, her head on his shoulder, admiring their wonderful Christmas tree with all of its radiant white lights and festive decorations. So far, this Christmas Eve was the best.


	2. Cookies: A Learning Experience

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait, I'm going to be faster between the next few chapters. This is just a short chapter I decided to fit in between two others, which should be longer. Thanks!**

River got out flour, sugar, chocolate chips, and multiple other ingredients from the cabinets and set them on the counter. According to the Doctor, they needed a special treat for the holidays, and there was nothing better than Christmas cookies.

"Do you even know how to make these? Are you sure you don't just want to buy some?" she asked.

"Yes, I'm sure. We're not going out this Christmas; we're staying in, it'll be special. Besides, baking is a learning experience. Who better to learn from then the best baker in the universe?" He winked at her.

She grinned and picked up a bowl, pouring the necessary ingredients into it. She handed him a large wooden spoon. "Here. You mix this together while I get the next bowl ready."

He took the bowl and starting mixing its contents. At first, he worked slowly, but as he got the hang of it, he moved faster. River, who was mixing the ingredients for peanut butter cookies, was worried that he would make a mess. Just as she was about to tell him to slow down, the Doctor tilted the bowl a bit too much, and some of its contents flew out and hit her.

He stopped stirring immediately. Part of him wanted to laugh, while the other part tried to apologize and get a towel for her. Looking at his wife standing with her eyes closed, he managed to say, "Am I, um… doing a good job?" It was all he could do to keep from laughing. There was no answer.

Getting up to get a towel, he gently wiped the cookie dough from her face. "There. I'll get back to work."

"Or you could spread them on the cookie tray. You're done mixing." She was hasty with her reply.

They each took a spoon and put small balls of cookie dough on the trays. The ones that the Doctor had made were all much too big, too small, or lopsided. River put them into the oven and set the timer. Then they moved on to their next activity.


	3. Under the Holly

"Decorations!" The Doctor said excitedly, bringing out a bag of Christmas-y things.

"We already decorated," River replied.

"Those were for the _tree,_ in the _living room._ These are for the console."

He pulled a strand of garland from the bag and held it up; it was red wit green circle and was nearly as tall as him. He handed it to her and she looped it through the top of the console, letting it drop down a bit before going back up. Next came a string of multicolored lights, which, after being untangle, the Doctor hung from the railing that circled the main console.

He pulled out a vaguely star shaped object and held it up for River to see. "I made it a long time ago on a nice little planet. I should take you back there; hopefully this time they'll welcome me. I may have gotten into a _bit_ of trouble before."

"Grinning at his last comment and staring at the star, River said, "What is it supposed to be?"

"It's a star! Don't you see it? It has all five points, I made sure." He counted the points for her, pointing at each one.

She bit her lip and smirked. "It looks a cross between a fish an apple."

"An _apple?_" He stuttered, but couldn't find anything to say back. "It does not!"

"It does!" She walked over and traced the line of a fish, and then an apple.

"Well… it looks like a star to me." He hung from the monitor screen. "I worked hard on it, it deserves a special place."

They hung p a few more things, mismatching ornaments and more lights. The Doctor turned on the lights and walked back over to the bag. "I've got just one more finishing touch."

He pulled out a ribbon with a few pointed leaves and red berries leaves hanging from the middle. He took her hand and talked quietly. "Look, River. We're under the mistletoe."

"That's holly, sweetie," she said softly.

He shrugged. "Same difference."

With that he leaned in and kissed her. They stood there for a little while, kissing underneath the holly.


	4. Where We Can Build A Snowman

River pulled the cookie tray out of the oven and rested it on the table. She handed the Doctor a spatula an instructed him to neatly place the cookies on a plate. As he did that, she put the second batch in the oven.

After they finished, they went to the console room. The Doctor landed the Tardis and reached for his wife's hand. "Would you like to go outside?"

"I thought we aren't going out this year."

"We're only going right outside the Tardis. It won't even count as leaving." She took his hand and he led her outside.

Everything was white. There was snow on every tree branch and every blade of grass, and it was still falling. River looked around at her surroundings; they were in a fairly open area, save for some trees on the edges of the clearing, and they were alone.

"Let's make a snowman!" He sounded really excited. He took a chunk of soft snow and started rolling it along the ground, telling River to do the same. When the balls of snow were large enough, they lifted the smaller one on top of the other.

"Here." River said, picking up two small fallen branches and pushing them through the sides of their snow creature. The Doctor pulled two smooth black stones out of the pocket of his tweed jacket and placed them near the top of the snowman's head.

"You carry rocks around in your pocket?" River asked him with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course! Who doesn't? They're very handy."

"What else do you have in that jacket?" She would have believed him if he had told her he kept light bulbs, but instead he pulled out a piece of half eaten licorice, making her laugh. Deciding that it could be used, he placed it under the stone eyes in an upright curve.

"It's a shame; I was planning on eating that."

"Do you have anything we can use for a nose?"

"Let me check." He emptied both of his pockets, taking out useless keys and handwritten notes before saying, "Nope. But this'll work"

He bent down and picked up an acorn that was half buried in snow and placed it between the makeshift eyes and mouth. Then, without warning, he jumped and ran into the Tardis, reappearing a moment later with a black top hat. He set it gently on the snowman's head. "The perfect finishing touch."

"It's nice," River said as they stepped back together to gaze at it in satisfaction.

She didn't realize that he wasn't standing beside her until she felt something cold hit the back of her neck. Turning, she saw that he stood with snowballs at the ready. She glared at him playfully with a look that seemed to say 'put them down now or suffer my wrath.' He didn't, as was expected, and they began throwing clumps of snow at each other, each using the snowman as a barrier.

They continued like that for a while, until they were both laughing so hard that they had to support each other to keep from falling. The Doctor smiled and leaned toward River, but before he could kiss her, she gasped, "The cookies!" and ran inside. He stumbled forward to where she had been standing and sighed cheerfully, following her in.


	5. Lucky

**A/N: I know it's short, but I have more coming. The other chapters will be longer, and I'll try to get them up as soon as possible!**

The Doctor walked into the kitchen, where River was poking at the second tray of cookies. The whole room smelt like something was burning.

"What _happened?_" He already knew the answer.

"The whole second batch is burnt."

"Burnt is an understatement." They looked at the tray full of black, crumbling masses that should have been warm, delicious cookies.

"And it's all your fault!" River said sternly, teasing him.

_"My_ fault? How is this _my_ fault?"

"You were the one who engaged me in a snowball fight; you know how competitive I can be. You're lucky you didn't kiss me," she smirked, "because we could have caught the Tardis on fire if we'd forgotten any longer."

"The Tardis has protection against that, you know that. And besides," he said, pulling her closer, "we could have let it."

He kissed her then, finally, as they stood in the burnt-smelling kitchen on the eve of Christmas, excited for the day ahead of them.


	6. And Presents Under the Tree

**A/N: Almost done, just have a chapter or two, maybe three, left, and they should be up soon. Thanks!**

They'd gone to bed soon after. It had been getting late, and it was Christmas Eve, of course, so the Doctor wanted to be up early for the next day.

In the morning, he lay in his bed, staring at River. Because Timelords needed less sleep, he'd been awake for a while, waiting for her to wake up. When he couldn't contain his emotions any longer, he jumped up and began flailing his arms around in excitement. He nearly shook River to get her up when he realized that was probably a bad idea. He kneeled back down and took her hand, kissing his wife on gently on the forehead. She opened her eyes, and he smiled at her.

"Merry Christmas, sweetie," she said as he kissed her on the cheek.

"It's Christmas!" he cried, letting his excitement out now that River was awake.

She laughed. "It is!"

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

He took her hand and practically dragged her into the living room.

"Look! Presents! How did you know I made a Christmas list?"

"You've only told me seven times," she said, rolling her eyes. When he moved towards the gifts under the tree, she pulled him back. "They can wait until _after _I have my tea."

He groaned, reminding her of an impatient five year old, and went to the kitchen, bringing back a tray of tea and their spared cookies from the night before. They sat together on the sofa in front of the fire, eating cookies and drinking tea.

"Please hurry up, dear," the Doctor said, bouncing up and down slightly and eyeing the gifts.

"Calm down, I'll be done soon enough. Besides, this is about the only day of the year that you can have bookies for breakfast."

He sighed impatiently and ate another cookie, still staring under the tree. A few minutes later she had finished her tea and placed the tray on the small side table.

"Can we open presents now?"

She laughed. "Yes, we can." They sat on the floor in front of the tree.

"You open yours first."

"After you made all that fuss? How about we take turns. Here," she said, handing his a delicately wrapped box.

He ripped paper apart to find an ornate picture frame encasing a picture of the two of them.

"Hey!" he said with a smile, pointing. "That's us! Thank you! I'll keep it right here on the end table."

He took a package from under the tree and handed it to River. She unwrapped it and laughed. It was a frame with a picture of them just like the one she had gotten him.

"Did you know?"

"Nope. Complete coincidence. Really, it was!"

"Okay, I believe you. "Here's the next one."

She handed him another perfectly wrapped box and he tore the paper excitedly and opened the box. He smiled at her, and she grinned. In the box was a blue bowtie with smaller bowties printed al over.

"It's wonderful!" The Doctor took off his original red bowtie and replaced it with the new one.

"Do you like it?"

"Love it! It almost tops my favorite one!"

"Which one is that?"

"The blue one I wore at our wedding."

"Really?"

"Of course!"

She gave him a kiss and he handed her the final gift. It was horribly wrapped, making it obvious that it was from the Doctor. There was tape stuck randomly all over the package, and the paper was wrinkled and misshapen. To River, that just made it all the more special.

She carefully opened the package and brought out a medium-sized crystal cube. Inside the cube was a bright, sparkling object. River looked at her husband, her mouth open wide.

"It's a star," he said softly. "I trapped it in that crystal cube for you."

"It's…" She was speechless for a moment, something that rarely happens to River Song. "It's beautiful. Thank you."

He pulled her into a hug. "You're very welcome. Now, I have something to show you. Come along."


	7. Our Christmas Star

**A/N: This is the last chapter, sorry for it's shortness. I hoped you enjoyed the story! **

The Doctor opened the Tardis and sat down, his legs dangling in space. Before River could do the same, he grabbed her hand and pulled her down real close next to him. They were sitting in front of a beautiful star that looked just like the one that he had given River, whose eyes filled with awe as she looked down at her own star in the crystal cube.

"It's the same one," the Doctor said, taking both of her hands in his and pressing her head against his shoulder. "I took us back to before I trapped it in the cube."

"It's wonderful; just like it is in the crystal."

They sat in silence for a little while, admiring the glowing star before them.

"Are you enjoying your Christmas?" he asked, looking at her.

"I am. Are you?"

"Of course! It's been the best!" He leaned over and whispered his next comment in her ear, his forehead briefly resting against the side of her head. "I get to spend it with my wife."

She smiled and started to tease him as they sat in front of their very own Christmas star, thinking about how wonderful their Christmas had been; the Doctor even started making plans for next year.


End file.
